Potty Humor

Author: utbt

23Mar2010

Am I done with the language development series? Honest answer, I don’t know if I will be done with any of the series posts I do. As the children grow, I find something interesting to add. But this post has been in my mind for a long time now and potty humor is one of the important stages of language development and humor development in children, so I have to record it.

Some time around two, children realize that words are not just sounds that come out of us, but they are powerful tools. They realize that what they say, and at times what they don’t say, can affect the environment around them. You hear your child using the word NO a gazillion times? That is the indicator that the child has made this connection in her brain.

Some time around four, at least that is what some books say, but I started noticing this phenomenon in our household when Chula was 3 years, may be because of the mixed age school setting….where was I? Yes, some time around four, children notice that some words cause unusual behavior in others. These are called impact words. A child says these words and the environment does not respond, but it reacts. The young child senses the unrest and unease these words cause. Even if she gets the literal meaning, she has no clue why in the world the adults are making such a big deal of fuss about it. Some example of impact words are poo-poo, pee-pee, other potty related words, words that signify private body parts, words related to death and violence etc.

3 year old Chula used to say poo-poo or pee-pee and she would burst in a fit of giggles. This was the girl who still couldn’t differentiate between a good smell and a disgusting smell. So she must be clearly copying the older kids at school. By four years and a few months, she totally got the concept of disgusting/offensive/unpleasant, so I was hoping that she would outgrow this phase by 4.5 years or so.

But I did not take in to account Mieja, who is 18 months younger to Chula. When Chula entered this phase, Mieja was 1.5. She echoed her sister and giggled. She being the clown that she is purposefully repeated potty words to get her older sister to giggle. Now Chula who is supposed to have outgrown this phase, is still locked down to this phase because Mieja is smack in the middle of that phase. The girls feed off of each other and there is perpetual giggling going on.

I did what is sensible. I was mildly amused at first and ignored it later. I do not want to sound like a fuddy-duddy, but if your children sat in a restaurant and sang a top pitch chorus, to the tune of Old McDonald had a farm

Won’t you be embarrassed? We are talking about the Saravana Bhanvan in the Bay Area and almost every one knows Tamil.

(The poem roughly translates to, “Look at Maran grandpa’s poo-poo, look at the cow in his farm, look at the poo-poo, there is poop there and pee here….” Now, I would like to say that we do not know or have a Maran grandpa. He is a fictitious character and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. In their Tamil school, to inspire the children they have a set of Tamil rhymes to the tune of catchy English rhymes. And yes the rhyme has affected them deeply.)

So ground rule#1 was quickly concocted by the parents and was thrown out, ‘No potty talk at the dining table’, which was closely followed by rule#2 ‘No potty talk in front of company’. Now, as a parent, it is a tough job to set limits and ground rules. Because one must not over react and make a rule of everything, then your child will not follow any rule. Or if you try ignoring everything, then once again you will be faced with the scenario of your child not following any rule. So one has to make rules only when you know that the rule will fly and you will never know if a rule will fly unless you make a rule of it. Complicated stuff, I say! Potty talk = offensive talk = socially unacceptable being purely an adult concept, is not very successful at home, I have to admit. So currently, the adults are the only ones who follow it at home.

One bright sunny day, Chula very properly told me, ‘Amma, I understand that poo-poo and pee-pee talk upsets you. So Mieja and me will not do that any more.’ I was in seventh heaven, naturally, not because potty talk was abandoned, but because of the sincerity with which she approached me and the maturity she portrayed, but I was duly grounded when she finished her statement with, “We have a new word. FART.” And ran off singing, ‘FART, FART, FART, FART, FART, F, F….’ of course to the tune of A,B,C,D,E,F,G….

Mieja: Amma, AG says they call it gusu in their house.
{Yes, there is a whole army of tomorrow’s good citizens out there discussing such important stuff.}
Chula: R says gas. Gas is a English word Mieja. What language is gusu?
Mieja: Well, AG speaks Tamil. So gusu must be Tamil.
Chula: Really amma? {She stops mid sentence, because she instantly recognizes the look on my face. So turns and whispers to her sister}, We will ask our Tamil teachers in Tamil school.
Mieja: Yes, teachers know everything. We can ask M what it is in Spanish and J what it is in Chinese.

Mieja even made observations like, ‘When children make gas we make a sound ‘pa-da-pa-da’ and we all laugh. Then we say ‘excuse me’. When adults do it, we can’t hear it, but we can smell it. They do not say excuse me.’

So unless you are prepared to face the question,‘So….. how do you say fart in your language?’ avoid our house for the next few years.

What timing.The converstaions at home are so centered on this topic. They even have a potty dance.The giggle fest kind of makes it amusing but it also makes me wonder how do i handle it when i have some company.

on a different note,do you take the kids by yourself on a bike or walk ? do they listen at all times ? If you have any tips on that let me know.

I just started with teaching my younger one the bike and have had good times as well as tough ones.Road saftey doesnt as much appeal to the elder one.

viji
UTBT SAYS: In front of company…@ home, I just say ‘Enough stop’ after my patience has run out.

Bike, walk with kids, yes quite a few times. For me running or road safety is not a problem. The minute we are half a mile away from home, one of the children would want a bio-break and we have to run back home racing against time.

How old is your older one? If he is four+, before you venture out, you can tell him what rules you expect him to follow and safety is not a issue you will compromise on. If he does not follow, just return back home. What ever you or the children are doing, drop it and come back home. It will drive the point home.

Other things, I will try giving choices or negotiate. But when it comes to safety it is definitely my way or the highway.

We had this conversation just a few nights back at home. It’s not about a potty song but loudly exclaiming that the dog farted or questioning the sibling if he/she farted. The OH & I had to request that they not vocalize these things each time, esp in front of friends and acquaintances
UTBT SAYS:
As a person who has never had pets – dogs too?!
As a parent with two children who are in this phase – Thank God, we have a fish!

my god your kids are so darn cute.. this brought memories of how my nephew used to run around touching everybody’s head to see if its hot to find who the culprit causing the offensive smell is. it used to be one of the R&D topics in my mom’s place.

rule#1 read utbt’s blog only from home. Girl am still laughing

UTBT SAYS: Touching ppls heads?! That I have never heard. May your nephew and my children NEVER meet. We could do with out any kind of investigation.

ROFL…could n’t stop laughing…but very cute this! The same has begun here too, with the almost three year old V who has outgrown ‘crow’ stories wanting to hear ‘poop’ stories at night. You know how aaarghhh it sounds in tamil:))

UTBT SAYS: Goodness
It is nice that children get pleasure from such mundane things, but I would rather it be a flower or a dew drop.

Hilarious post. Why do you want to restrict the talk???
If you restrict them further, they would find it more amusing and will repeat it with vigour. Humour is essential in life..so go with the flow.

At my place, I am the BIG MEIJA & CHULA I like to irritate my hubby who doesn’t like potty talk. Now I have taught my daughter that “GIRLS DON”T FART” rule, so now even when she does, she will say it is her little brother and giggle.

Now I am waiting for my son to be three when he will start discovering the whole new world of potty humour.
He is about 2 now and still will say ‘toot-toot’ after every time he does the deed.

UTBT SAYS: I don’t want to restrict it. I just want to set some limits and I draw a line when they talk abt it at the dining table and in front of company.

We had a earthquake last sunday right – KB and his friend met at the park soon after – I heard them laughing away – I went to them to see why – KB’s friend said – you know what happened in the earth quake KB and proceeded to say – the earth pooped! And they kept repeating it and laughing! What is it with this word that makes them find it so funny?! I don’t remember going through this phase. May be our parents were scary enough for us to not talk about it! Anyways – I send you an email – not sure if you got it.
Doesn’t matter now. Chumma came to your site and read this post – could relate to it. THe convos btn Chula and Mieja are too cute.
Tamil school! Wow!

UTBT SAYS: Hey Noon, received your email. Will respond to it soon. Know what?!, when the earthquake hit we were driving from LA to San Diego

Do you honestly not remember being fascinated by all these ‘fundamental’ topics? I remember being in class VI or so when i first heard the word ‘shit’! It was so liberating, I remember, to have a usable, informal word.
In my young days euphemisms were far more common.
even words for the toilet had a hierarchy- lavatory was apparently ‘better’ than toilet!
I think you’re dealing with it quite well. Sounds like such fun:)

UTBT SAYS: Dipali, as a child, I clearly remember being fascinated by this, but I also very clearly remember that I would get one on my back if I dared start this topic with visitors and that it is highly frowned upon top talk about output when input is happening

This conditioning probably is the reason for my unease related to the topic.

😀 ROFL !!!!
first time reading your blog !
I thought my boys were the only odd ones…
These days everything is like, poo poo daddy, poo poo made poo poo food, give me poo poo to eat,
old mcdonald had a farm – poo poo poo poo poo.
And it is so heartening to see they are not alone
UTBT SAYS: Hey you, welcome here.
Yes the boys and girls will have a poo-poo time in poo-poo land talking about poo-poo and dreaming abt poo-poo. Oh dear God….